Exercising device for musicians.



No. 738,198. PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1903. A. E. JONES.

EXEROISING DEVICE FOR MUSICIANS. APPLICATION rum) JULY 2, 1902.

no MODEL.

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PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT E. JONES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE VIRGIL PRACTICE CLAVIER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

EXERCISING DEVICE FOR MUSICIANS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 738,198, dated September 8, 1903.

Application filed July 2, 1902. Serial No. 114,119. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT E. JONES, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, county and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Exercising- Keyboards for Musicians, of which the following is a specification.

This invention consists in an improvement on the exercising-keyboard shown in Letters Patent of the United States to A. K. Virgil, No. 479,340, dated July 19, 1802.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the keyboard with the cover removed. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section of the same.

a a, &c., are a series of keys of which the white finger-pieces are lettered I) Z), &c., and the black finger-pieces o c, &c.

d and e are two hard plates extending transversely under the series of keys, on opposite sides of the fulcra thereof. The supports of said keys and plates are substantially as described in said Patent No. 479,340, and therefore detailed description of them is unnecessary.

f for each key is a spur extending downwardly through said key and cooperating with the plate 6 to produce the clicks on the upstrokes of the keys, as described in said Patent No. 47 9,340. The spur g (by the cooperation of which with the plate cl the downclick is produced) for each key instead of being arranged as shown in said Patent No. 479,340 is positioned and arranged as shown in the accompanying drawingsthat is to say, it extends entirely through the key from a point at the top in the rear of the finger-piece b in forwardly-inclined direction to a point over the plate (1. The spur g is thus caused to strike the plate d while held at an acute angle, (preferably of about sixty-five degrees,) whereby the shock of the impact is greatly modified and softened, affording a greatly-improved touch for the finger and preventing tendency to produce a clattering sound. The position of the stud g by enabling its head to project above the top of the key back of the finger-piece b enables a weight h by the wire 1' in such manner that the weight is free to be raised by the key. In the construction shown in said Patent No. 479,340 these weights were suspended at such a distance from the keys that in the operation of the key the weight was struck just before the completion of the stroke. I have discovered, however, that a greatly-improved touch is afforded by suspending the weights in' such proximity to the keys that the lower end of each weight barely touches the felt covering j of its key, so that the weight is carried by the key substantially from the commencement of the stroke. The weight is additional to the spring by which the rear end of the key is depressed and which may be of any suitable form. The form that I prefer is lettered 7c in the accompanying drawings, and is of the same form as shown in said Patent No. 47 9,340, though it might be of the form shown in Patent No. 344,462.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- In a key-exercising apparatus containing click-producing devices adapted to be operated by the keys, in combination with the lower member of the downclick devices, a spur constituting the upper member of the downclick devices for each key which extends through the key from a point in the rear of the finger-piece in a forwardly-inclined position to a point'over said lower member.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT E. JONES. lVitnesses:

WALTER A. PAULING, OI-IAs. .T. RATHJEN. 

